Two men were taken from a homeless shelter in an ambulance Tuesday after witnesses said they smoked “Spice.”“They were really out of it. They didn’t have any control over their bodies. They didn’t have any control over their speech,” said Pastor Michael Sweet, of the Gateway Rescue Mission.Sweet said he found a resident and another man high off spice Tuesday morning behind the building on South Gallatin Street. Gateway officials said they’ve seen residents high on drugs like marijuana and cocaine, but said their experience with Spice was different.“It was an eye-opener, even for us who deal with it all the time,” said Gateway executive director Rex Baker. “A guy, who yesterday you could sit there and have a normal conversation with, is sitting there this morning and he cannot speak. He cannot tell you his name.”Baker said after the resident is released from the hospital, he won’t be allowed back at the shelter.“Once it’s in, it can spread, and we don’t want this to spread,” Baker said.Sweet said the men were lucky this happened somewhere they could get the help they needed.“I talked to him (and) told him, ‘Don’t try to get up,’ (and) let him know that we care about him,” Sweet said.Gateway officials said agents with the Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics were expected to pick up the Spice the men were smoking for testing.

JACKSON, Miss. —

Two men were taken from a homeless shelter in an ambulance Tuesday after witnesses said they smoked “Spice.”

“They were really out of it. They didn’t have any control over their bodies. They didn’t have any control over their speech,” said Pastor Michael Sweet, of the Gateway Rescue Mission.

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Sweet said he found a resident and another man high off spice Tuesday morning behind the building on South Gallatin Street. Gateway officials said they’ve seen residents high on drugs like marijuana and cocaine, but said their experience with Spice was different.

“It was an eye-opener, even for us who deal with it all the time,” said Gateway executive director Rex Baker. “A guy, who yesterday you could sit there and have a normal conversation with, is sitting there this morning and he cannot speak. He cannot tell you his name.”

Baker said after the resident is released from the hospital, he won’t be allowed back at the shelter.

“Once it’s in, it can spread, and we don’t want this to spread,” Baker said.

Sweet said the men were lucky this happened somewhere they could get the help they needed.

“I talked to him (and) told him, ‘Don’t try to get up,’ (and) let him know that we care about him,” Sweet said.

Gateway officials said agents with the Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics were expected to pick up the Spice the men were smoking for testing.